76 Percent of Medical Affairs Teams Outsource Budgets for at Least One Subfunction

339 Days ago

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwired - January 05, 2016) - A recent study found that 76 percent of medical affairs teams allocate budget to outsource at least one subfunction. The particular subfunctions that get outsourced, however, vary by team and region, according to research from primary intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information. For example, 88 percent of global medical affairs teams outsource a portion of the medical publications budget while only 55 percent of country-level teams do.

The report, Medical Affairs Management: Igniting Innovative Global Strategies, finds that medical affairs teams may outsource full-time equivalents (FTEs). On average, global medical affairs teams outsource 12 FTEs compared to 4.2 for U.S. teams and 2.1 for country-level teams. These outsourced personnel are convenient for companies with temporary needs, such as an increase in call center agents during a product launch.

"Medical affairs teams bear responsibility for many complicated tasks," said Natalie DeMasi, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "To manage all of these tasks, many teams benefit from third-party assistance."

Some teams outsource only small aspects of a particular medical affairs subfunction, or hand off all of these responsibilities to a vendor, depending on company resources and strategy. The decision to outsource budgets and FTEs also depends on a team's resources and internal availability.

"Outsourced vendors allow medical affairs teams to maximize their internal resources to best support upcoming products and needs," DeMasi said. "Outsourced tasks are also dictated by available budget."